"Monday Murderings" has a nice ring to it, so let's spend the rest of the month livenin' up those Monday blues with some Monday grues! NOTE: Grue definition and meanings: 1.) a creeping of the flesh. 2.) to shiver or shudder. 3.) to feel a strong aversion-- and all of these definitions most certainly apply to this incredible tale of vengeance from beyond the slimy lime pit grave-- a story not even found in a horror comic, but instead the October 1952 issue of WANTED Comics #50! This is some top tier terror via the "The Mausoleum of Weird Crimes", and exceptionally well scripted by Bill Woolfolk, (the "mile after mile" narrative in the middle of page 5 is ghastly AF!), and --hold the phone-- pencils / inks here are by the late great John Buscema, who also created that spectacularly surreal cover! And hold on to your skin before it completely slithers away, because this tale actually goes one finale insane step beyond the usual shambling dead revenge plot!
4 comments:
Remember, while eliminating both zombies and double crossing mafia dons, TAKE THE HEADSHOT!!!!!!
This one is great! If you only read crime comics, nothing in this might have been too surprising as they are usually grounded somewhat in reality, but if you just read horror comics, this thing would keep you guessing.
It gives you the supernatural twice and then rug pulls it away from you and sticks squarely in crime comics territory. It's really an interesting read after so many horror comics.
BTW, I would mind a couple crime comics here and there (you've posted some before.) A lot of them can actually be more horrific than horror comics.
Top of page 8 shows you why Buscema became such a powerhouse in superhero comics. That is a great collection of panels that shows a very understandable battle. Note: each panel does something that makes the action better:
1 -> 2 the characters are flipped
2 -> 3 the characters flip again
3 -> 4 go to close up
4 -> 5 go back to long and flip the characters
It seems like something simple but that's really good comic art.
That splash is a horror kid's dream (or nightmare) come true.
This could have been published in a horror comic since it fits the horror tone perfectly.
The victim returning from the dead, looking like a refugee of the grave, out for revenge, we have seen this so many times before in horror tales. Had the writer added a supernatural angle (ancestor of a warlock, dabbler in the forbidden arts, etc.) it would have given a supernatural aspect for his surviving the lime pit.
Comic book writers borrowed from each other back then, I would be surprised if this story wasn't rewritten in another comic story or two.
A creepy crime tale for murderous Monday, what a horrific way to stary off the week, and I mean that in a good way.
Maybe its is just me, but aren't all Monday's murderous to get through?
Wow, early Buscema just four years into his career. I would have never recognized this stuff as Big John's, though I can see it in the group compositions and multi-character interactions. At times it feels influenced by Kirby (those faces) and Streeter (the backgrounds). The sort of spare compositions here, especially the threadbare environments, give the whole thing a similar surreality to that cover--a forlorn and empty setting to reflect these folk straying further and further off a moral due north.
What a great story. It's interesting that the main character is so profoundly effed by the lye, but only in an aesthetic kind of a way. He's certainly not undone: If anything he seems to have grown heartier in the pit. Still can walk miles and miles, still can overpower three completely normal-looking gangsters. I know, I know, he totally got the drop on them--but the dude was even armed! And speaking of that guy, he should totally come back from the grave and wreak precode revengeance on those lazy dogs. What a coupla slackers. You'll never work in this town again, bitches!
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